Columnist, media and business consultant and Kurt W. Zimmermann is now getting into the publishing business. According to a report in Cash Daily, the ex-Tamedia manager has acquired a majority stake in the South Tyrolean ff publishing house together with Viennese lawyer Stefan Weber. Zimmermann is married to South Tyrolean Uli Rubner, head of magazines at Tamedia until April 2008. He also holds voting rights in the South Tyrolean municipality of Kiens, as the ff weekly magazine, which belongs to ff-Verlag, wrote. The publishing duo's further goals are to be announced on January 1, 2008.

 The Wirz subsidiary Assai Dialog + Digital is strengthening its team with Anika Hirsch. She joined the management team on December 1, 2007 and is responsible for the Digital division. In this role, she is responsible for strategic consulting and the support of key customers. She complements the existing management team, consisting of Michel Juhasz, CEO of Assai Dialog + Digital and member of the Wirz Group Executive Board, and Karin Lang, Head of Dialog. According to the press release, Hirsch has many years of experience in the management of integrated communication mandates and in strategic planning. For the past seven years, Hirsch has worked at Scholz&Friends in Hamburg, where she worked as an account director and consulting group leader on the digital future of companies, brands and products.

The Wirz subsidiary Assai has produced a mailing for Mobiliar on the subject of private pension provision. It is intended to draw attention to the fact that a third pillar is an advantage for retirement age if this time is to be enjoyed at the usual standard. With "MobiLife", Swiss Mobiliar offers the appropriate range of products for the third pillar in addition to the compulsory pension plan, so that there are no gaps in private pension provision. Assai created an analogy to personal dental care and realized a 3D mailing. The target group was sent a box containing a travel toothbrush and a travel toothpaste. The mailing thus emphasizes the theme "Those who take precautions will not have painful gaps later". The box includes a brochure explaining the pension system and inviting the target group to a free consultation. Finally, five travel vouchers were raffled off in a competition with partner Kuoni. Responsible at Schweizerische Mobiliar:
Marco Fioroni (Head of Advertising Marketing Communication), Nicole Müller (Project Management). Responsible at Assai Interactive: Stefan Dätwyler (Creative Direction), Stefan Frey (Art Direction), Sämi Weber (Text/Concept), Andrea Mahler (Production), Karin Lang, Beat Enderlin, Marlene Flück (Consulting).

The creative minds at JWT+H+F developed a pharmacy display for the stomach medicine Rennie - and asked themselves what had upset Santa's stomach. Perhaps it was the biscuits, mandarins or nuts that were not actually intended for him. In any case, Santa suffered from a burning stomach, the agency reports. As Rennie helps with a burning stomach, he went to the nearest pharmacy. And he is still there, namely as a pharmacy display. Responsible at Bayer:
Luca De Vito (Group Brand Manager). Responsible at JWT+H+F: Remy Fabrikant (overall responsibility), Mike Krüll (Creative Director), Isa McInnes (Art Direction), Rainer Bühler (Strategic Planning), Petra Nigg, Cyprian Suter (Consulting), Sebastian Day, Christian Wirz (Graphics), Chr. Kitzmüller (Illustration).

 
On the YouTube film portal, it is common practice to use references to sex to increase the number of hits for clips. For example, a clip can be assigned terms such as "porn," "xxx," or "hot," or "sexy" preview images can be posted on the network to attract users. Amnesty Germany has now also made use of this Venus trap. The idea was implemented by Saatchi & Saatchi Frankfurt. In the new English-language image spot "The Trojan Girl", which can be found in the smut corner of Youtube, Amnesty has been luring the ignorant user with a red pout on a preview image since as early as December 10. As soon as the film starts, however, the preview image disappears and a well-dressed gentleman in a tie appears, explaining the aim and purpose of Amnesty to the baffled viewer. Whether the clip will be seen more because of this is doubtful. So far, the film has been played about 5,000 times. Georg Felser, professor of consumer psychology at the Harz University of Applied Sciences, told the Süddeutsche newspaper that the viewer's disappointment at not finding sex after all could be a hindrance.

 
As the bank of the citizens of Bern, DC Bank stands for solid values. On the one hand because the Burgergemeinde guarantees the bank, and on the other hand because DC Bank has been working solidly and seriously since 1825, thus creating value, as stated in the press release. This is what the current poster and online campaign, which can currently be seen in and around Bern and on the Espace Media website, aims to communicate. Advertisements have also been placed on Internet search engines for bank-specific terms:
Rudolf Brunner (Chairman of the Executive Board) and Bruno Tanner (Member of the Executive Board). Responsible at In Flagranti Werbeagentur BSW: Michael Hählen and Regula Cajacob (consulting), Michael Holzgang (media), Melanie Brandel and Simon Matz (graphics), Simon Kümin (text/concept). Photo: Rolf Siegenthaler, Bern.

 
On December 16, Gaston Friedländer, founder of Swiss Marketing (SMC), celebrated his 100th birthday in Zurich. The history of SMC began with him around 50 years ago as an Erfa group of 25 people. Today, with 2,500 members, it is the largest Swiss professional association for managers in marketing and sales. The Erfa Group has become an established forum for marketing people, a platform for professional advancement that works with the high level of knowledge and experience of its members and still promotes the exchange of experience after 50 years. Gaston Friedländer lives in "Sydefädeli" in Zurich-Höngg, where he continues to enjoy good health. We congratulate him.

 Sebastian Ramspeck is moving to the Sonntagszeitung. Its editor-in-chief Andreas Durisch confirmed corresponding information from Werbewoche on Tuesday. "We are very much looking forward to him", explained Durisch. Ramspeck, nephew of Blick columnist and former Weltwoche editor-in-chief Jürg Ramspeck, will take up his post in the Sonntagszeitung's news department on March 1, 2008. The graduate political scientist worked for two years in the Düsseldorf field office of the German news magazine Spiegel, before which he graduated from the renowned Henri Nannen School of Journalism in Hamburg.

 
Günther Thiel, Managing Director of the private German mail delivery company PIN, announced his resignation on Tuesday. At the same time, he withdrew his offer to take over the 64 percent stake in PIN held by Axel-Springer-Verlag. Thiel cited the "communicative behavior" of the Axel Springer publishing house as the reason, as reported by Financial Times Deutschland. The background to the crisis is the decision by the Springer publishing house a few days ago to stop all payments to its subsidiary (see: Axel Springer is no longer putting money into PIN Group for the time being / http://www.werbewoche.ch/newsmail071214_springer.werbewoche). Thiel had subsequently offered to take over Springer's share in the ailing company for one euro, which Matthias Döpfner, CEO of the publishing house, rejected as a provocation. With his investment company Rosalia, Thiel holds 10 percent of the share capital and is therefore one of several minority shareholders. If neither he nor other shareholders put money into the company, PIN will have to file for insolvency in the next few days. This would mean the failure of the first attempt in Germany to establish a nationwide private mail delivery company.

 
The Lolipop 1st Candy Store has 21 locations in Switzerland and southern Germany and stocks over 900 different sweets. The Y&R Group has thematized and visualized the wide range of products for those with a sweet tooth as "fun for the taste buds". Two print motifs are intended to show that a little trip to Lolipop can bring great pleasure to the tongue, according to the press release. The motifs will be used as posters, advertisements and streetcar hangers, with Lolipop responsible:
Alexandra Bisaz and Nicole Reolon-Mächler. Responsible at the Y&R Group: Christian Bobst, Dominik Oberwiler (CD), Rob Hartmann (AD), Martin Stulz (text), Kathrin Gerber (art buying), Pablo Koerfer (consulting) and Patrick Rohner (image editing).

On November 29, 2007, the Espace Media Prize for Press Photography was awarded for the 17th time. The Swiss National Museum in Zurich is showing the winning pictures and other selected photos in an exhibition from December 18 to February 24. They capture the most important events of the year that is drawing to a close. 134 photographers submitted 1841 pictures, which were published in Swiss print media from September 2006 to August 2007. The main prize and first prize in the Art and Culture category went to Michael Würtenberg from Zurich. His picture captures the Greenpeace campaign with 600 naked bodies on the Aletsch glacier. The picture appeared in the NZZ am Sonntag.
After its stop at the National Museum, the exhibition will travel through Switzerland. It will be on display at the Forum of Swiss History in Schwyz in March, at the Salon du Livre in Geneva from the end of April and at the Käfigturm in Bern from August.

 Various reports on the subject of cell phones and the effects on human salvation made the rounds on Monday. Rapper Greis, for example, told the Aargauer Zeitung that his cell phone had made him less reliable: "The ability to reschedule appointments anytime and anywhere makes cell phones less binding," is his impressive conclusion. If Greis were a few years younger and lived further south, the Italian Psychological Guild might still be able to help him. They are sounding the alarm because a study has shown that even four-year-olds take their cell phones to the chindsgi. The psychologists warn that the bambini are becoming dependent on the telefonini instead of developing personal contacts. Of course, these groundbreaking considerations come too late for Greis. According to the interview, he didn't bother with a cell phone in his youth, but envied a friend's transparent blue Motorola pager. Of course, the shrinks are once again silent about the effects that early childhood pager use could have on later rappers.